In The case of officer Jeronimo Yanez, I don’t feel he woke up that day wanting to shoot a black person. However, I keep asking myself, would he have done the same thing if Philando were white? As I put on my Monday morning quarterback Jersey, it is my opinion that Philando Castile should be alive today. I believe there was a better way to handle the initial stop. If he suspected Philando was a suspect in a robbery, there were ways to conduct that stop in a way that would have completely avoided the shooting altogether, but Yanez neglected to do so.

15 Responses to “An Open Letter From Colion Noir”

When you have an experience like what Mr. Noir describes in the opening paragraphs of that post, it changes your attitudes for the rest of your life. The Officer Friendly coloring books they gave you in elementary school get erased from your mind in an instant. And, I believe blacks and poor whites have more such experiences than middle class or affluent whites; which I believe will explain why there is a gulf separating the attitudes of blacks and poor (or once poor) whites, from the attitudes of middle class or affluent whites, toward cops.

I hate to say it (mostly because of who this puts me in agreement with; ie BLM) but Philando Castile was “one of us” (law abiding citizen/gun owner/ccw-er) gunned down by a cop because of knee-jerk preconceptions of black males in America. A preconception he probably shouldn’t have acted on the way he did but one perpetuated by black males themselves (and a leftist entertainment media too willing to profit from them) with their foolish glorification of anti-social culture which reinforces negative stereotypes of black males.

Officer Yanez got away with somethings that us non-police wouldn’t (and he probably shouldn’t have) strictly because of the badge. But I don’t entirely blame him for his unprofessional actions (partially, but not entirely). Part of the problem is that we’ve turned “Peace Officers” into “Law Enforcers” … we’ve moved away from de-escallation to domination as the primary police tactic.

But modern “African American Culture” deserves part of the blame.

We need more Andy Taylors and less Harry Callahans (and certainly no more Robocops) … but we also need more Huxtables and less Tupacs.

While modern “African American Culture” deserves part of the blame, We also need more Andy Taylors and less Harry Callahans (and certainly no more Robocops) … but we also need more Huxtables and less Tupacs.

This is a serious though somewhat rhetorical question: Is glorification of “African American Culture” that much different from the glorification of the outlaw, alcohol-fueled aspects of redneck culture, that permeates much of country-western music?

When anyone talks about “the welfare” culture, I’m reminded of Appalachian people I used to stay with during deer season, years ago. No one in their extended families had worked ever since the 1930s or earlier, the men saw “opportunity” only in crime (our most frequent “guide” had just gotten out of prison for hijacking trucks) and the women only saw opportunity in hooking “a boy from the big city.” They aspired to nothing more. But they were a colorful lot that people like (e.g.) Toby Keith have painted lots of colorful and amusing portraits of.

In your basic urban area, “Peace Officers” disappeared by the 60’s, at the latest.
A strong argument could be made that they disappeared the moment that cops were issued ticket books.
Along with that, .gov’s own data shows that the motoring public is safer when they are not patrolling the roads. Basically, taking away all their ticket books would be the single biggest improvement we could make as far as traffic safety goes these days. Cheaper, too. No tickets being issued greatly reduces the “need” for most of the traffic cops out there. Traffic court would mostly go away, too.

Problem is that such a radical idea is too much for the general public to handle, even with numbers to support it. The sheep don’t feel “safe” without their “protection” skimming their wallets.

The dashcam video showed the cops actions were based on fear Was the fear rational or not? I do not know . I think the cop reacted badly he is responsible and should have been guilty of something. Not being a lawyer maybe not the charge. Would Castile be alive if he was white? Probably.
I doubt if I had acted so rashly I would be considered not guilty But then again i would not be in that situation. I guess the best thing we can ask for is better training for cops with citizens that are armed But with the amount of cop killing done today I understand their fear.

I think police training is pretty bad these days and is heavy into force as a first resort. Police selection and training should have also weeded out somebody who reacts under pressure as poorly as this cop. He should never have been given a badge or a gun.

I seriously have wondered whether they do any serious psychological profiling of police candidates; and if they do, they aren’t actually looking for candidates that most of us would consider sociopaths.